


To See If I Could

by tinknevertalks



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: AU: Ashley Lives, Ashley the Vampire, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Comes Back Wrong, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Nikola the teacher (kinda), POV Third Person, Post-Series, Some violence but nothing super descriptive because I don't like hurting people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:13:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23910622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinknevertalks/pseuds/tinknevertalks
Summary: Ashley's more violent than Helen remembers, but she's fine... Isn't she?
Relationships: Ashley Magnus & Helen Magnus, Helen Magnus/Nikola Tesla
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	To See If I Could

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DownToTheSea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DownToTheSea/gifts).



> Oh my goodness, it's a Bad Things Happen fic from me. DownToTheSea requested this over on Tumblr *ages* ago, and my brain finally got into action. Not fluffy... Obvs.
> 
> The Helen/Nikola is more background atm, but might get stronger ~~if I write more~~. Unbeta'd, so any glaring mistakes please let me know. Otherwise, I hope you like. Please leave a comment either way (because they really help me want to write if I know there are people wanting to read).

They were little things at first - squashing a bug with her hand, blowing off feeding some abnormals, zorbing within the compound - but Helen wouldn't hear a word of it. "Ashley's always been impulsive," she'd say. "The mosquito was trying to feed from her," was an excuse that came tripping from her lips. Watching her watch her daughter became one of Nikola's new hobbies. He could list all the ways she'd soften as she interacted with Ashley, delighting in being with her again. It was almost as if they were invincible.

Except they weren't, and the cracks were starting to show. It began when Ashley came close to killing a lizard-like abnormal, her vampiric traits and strength focused on the creature's neck. When Henry asked, "What the hell, Ash?" she just shrugged.

"I wanted to know if I could hurt it."

Helen couldn't ignore that. Ashley stopped working the intake area, and Nikola took her under his wing.

"You need to stop reacting emotionally to your surroundings," he explained one day, holding two halves of a broken door. "You're a vampire, behave like one."

"Like you do every time mom goes away?" she asked, snide and petulant.

Nikola shrugged off the insult, wanting to hurt her back but knowing instinctively it wouldn't work, or help. She was her father's daughter, too, after all. "Instead of running your mouth, how about you run around the compound? Work off that energy."

Ashley rolled her eyes. Taking a step, her face morphed into a cruel grin Nikola knew meant danger. Without preamble he waited until she started running, stepping to one side as she hit her stride, not wanting to be caught again (the last time she did that she dragged him to the tunnels, laughing when she left him dangling from an outcrop). It half worked; he moved, but felt her claws drag along his abdomen. "Drac you later, Vlad," she called, cackling.

Sighing, Nikola trudged to his room. He really liked this waistcoat. His abdomen, already healing, felt sensitive, tender even. "God damn brat."

"Someone I know?"

He rolled his eyes. Of course she ran in here, ready to plague him anew. "You can't just gut someone every time they piss you off. And ah," he held up a finger, "don't start with the, 'Like you do when,' business."

Ashley smiled, warm and sunny, almost like her mother. "I wasn't going to say that. Mom wants us in the arboretum."

"I'll be there in a moment," he said, pointing to his stomach before indicating the door they were stood beside.

Ashley nodded, and leant against the wall. "I can wait. You know how mom'll be if we don't turn up together."

Nikola narrowed his eyes but said nothing, opting instead to change (at speed) and rejoin Ashley. She looked like she hadn’t moved, but now held one of Henry’s stunners. The cold look, the Ripper look, was back. “Wh--”

The last thing Nikola remembered was Ashley’s smirk as the stun bolt hit him point blank.

\--

“Bloody hell.” Knelt by his shoulder, Helen tapped Nikola’s face. “Nikola?”

His eyes opened. Glancing around, a sigh escaped him with a, “Son of a bitch," following swiftly behind.

“What happened?”

“Ask that hellion of a daughter of yours.”

Helen’s brow furrowed. “Ashley?”

“Have you another daughter zorbing around?" Nikola sighed again, and sat up, arms hanging limply between his legs. "Remind me, to what voltage does your werewolf set those stunners?" He shook his head as if to shake out the cobwebs.

"Ashley was the one to tell me you were unconscious," Helen told him, sitting back on her heels. "She ran to tell me."

He snorted. "I highly doubt that."

"Nikola!" Her tone betrayed too much of her feelings, if his minute swallow and abashed glance to her necklace was anything to go by. "I know there have been… teething problems with Ashley, but she wouldn't purposefully stun you."

Nikola raised his eyebrow. "Really?"

"What do you want me to say, Nikola?" She stared into his eyes, as if he had the answers in his bright blue irises. "She's my daughter, and she's here, alive."

"She's not--" He looked away sharply, to a figure down the hall. Helen followed his gaze. "Ashley."

"Yes?" She smiled, sunny and bright. "Hey mom, Henry asked me to tell you the lorrikeets are hatching."

Helen couldn't help but smile back. "Thank you, darling."

"I'll be in my lab," Nikola muttered, rising and brushing off his legs. From her position on the floor, Helen caught sight of the tiny flare burn on his usually pristine shirt. It was barely an inch away from his heart.

"When did you get changed?" she asked, her voice soft.

"About two minutes before I got used for target practice," he replied in an equally soft tone, offering a hand. Getting up herself, Helen squeezed his fingers in quiet gratitude before turning towards Ashley. Nikola, however, didn't let go. "Be careful."

Looking once again into those bright blue eyes, Helen's heart thundered in her chest. He was never so blatant with his concerns for her, wanting instead to disguise it with complaints about Henry or Will. This did not alleviate her worry, rather all it did was multiply it. "I… I will."

With one last squeeze (and a furtive glance behind her), Nikola released her hand. Helen watched as he walked away, glad when Ashley asked, "Are the lorrikeets the fire breathers or the water walkers?" She was fine, actively learning about the abnormals again (even if Helen refused to let her in the intake area anytime soon). There was nothing to worry about, was there?

But even as they walked together, Ashley chatting about some of the Hollow Earth abnormals she'd seen, Helen couldn't help but think about the tiny sooty flare on Nikola's bright white shirt, or the lizard-like abnormal that hid each time Ashley appeared.


End file.
